Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2013

EF1 tornado, Mt Union, Texas, December 21, 2013

This EF1 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Jasper County on December 21, 2013, touching down at 2:50 PM CST and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. EF2111 to 135 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
December 21, 2013
Touchdown
2:50 PM CST (20:50 UTC)
Lifted
2:51 PM CST (20:51 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.6 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$40,000
County
Jasper County
Touchdown point
30.695, -94.021
Lift-off point
30.699, -94.016
Record number
1312211450-01

What the Weather Service recorded

As a cold front approached the region, thunderstorms became severe, some of which produced weak tornadoes in Tyler and Jasper counties.

A fast moving tornado touched down in a field near Mt. Union, and ripped a well built carport/garage that was attached to a house. While part of the carport roof landed on the home, some of the metal debris was thrown for 200 yards across the field.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:48 UTC and running to 22:50 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:44 UTC00:00 UTCWind AdvisoryLCH
15:48 UTC22:50 UTCTornado WatchLCH
20:49 UTC21:28 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCH

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

8.8 hours before the tornado, 101 km from the path. December 21, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2013-12-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 509 joules per kilogram, CIN -112, lifted condensation level 558 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2013-12-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 54 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
509 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-112 J/kg
Surface CAPE
727 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
558 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
54 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
165 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

3.2 hours after it, 101 km from the path. December 22, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2013-12-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1651 joules per kilogram, CIN -9, lifted condensation level 562 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2013-12-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 143 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 60 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1651 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1479 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
562 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
143 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
136 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.4
Supercell composite
4.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Jasper County-Bell Field Airport (JAS), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:35 UTC74.6670.7180° 13 kt231003-RA
18:55 UTC74.4870.7170° 17 kt231002.4-RA
19:15 UTC73.7670.7180° 15 kt211002-RA
19:35 UTC73.470.7180° 14 kt241001.7-RA
19:55 UTC73.470.7180° 17 kt231001.7
20:15 UTC73.5870.88190° 16 kt291002-RA
20:35 UTC73.470260° 27 kt341004.1+RA
20:55 UTC65.1262280° 10 kt1004.1+RA
21:15 UTC61.760.44260° 6 kt1004.7+RA
21:35 UTC61.1660320° 12 kt171004.4+RA
21:55 UTC6059.18350° 8 kt1004.4-RA
22:15 UTC6058.460° 0 kt1005.4-RA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:50 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGMt. UnionJasper, TXREPORT FROM JASPER SHERIFF OF DAMAGE TO A HOME IN MT UNION WITH ADDITIONAL TREES DOWN
20:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGTown BluffTyler, TXTYLER EM REPORTS A ROOF TORN OFF OF HARRIS GROCERY CONVENIENCE STORE AND BLOWN ACROSS THE STREET
20:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGTown BluffTyler, TXTYLER EM REPORTS WIND DAMAGE AT DAM B NEAR STEINHAGEN LAKE
20:35 UTCTSTM WND DMGJasperJasper, TXREPORT FROM JASPER COUNTY SHERIFF ON NUMEROUS TREES DOWN BETWEEN FM777 AND FM1747 NEAR HWY190

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2013 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 21, 2013

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 211:58 PM CSTEF1Tyler, TX0.925$20,000
December 212:22 PM CSTEF1Tyler, TX1.525$75,000
December 213:13 PM CSTEF2St. Francis, AR15.630013$500,000
December 213:43 PM CSTEF1Union Parish, LA0.875$1,000
December 214:51 PM CSTEF2Chicot, AR to MS40.84402$800,000
December 215:19 PM CSTEF2Coahoma, MS10.130012$1.0 million
December 215:31 PM CSTEF0Calloway, KY0.350$2,000
December 215:40 PM CSTEF1Tunica, MS2.72001$250,000
December 215:57 PM CSTEF1Tate, MS6.2200$175,000
December 216:13 PM CSTEF0Tate, MS0.7100$50,000
December 2111:07 PM ESTEF1Taylor, KY5.5300$200,000
December 2111:29 PM ESTEF1Harrison, KY3.5110$100,000
December 2111:41 PM ESTEF1Bourbon, KY5.7125$150,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.